Inner Peace for the Working Professional

What is inner peace? A quick Google search turned up, “a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress. Being ‘at peace’ is considered by many to be healthy and the opposite of being stressed or anxious.” We usually think of monks or yogis as those who live in a perpetual state of inner peace. They’re not participating in the daily grind that most of us endure. For the rest of us, the biggest challenge to achieving a state of inner peace is our daily life. We get up, prepare for the day, go to work, come home, take care of kids and pets, eat dinner, go to sleep, and then do it all over again. Achieving inner peace for the working professional can be challenging, but there are some things that you can do to help yourself get there.

Try to achieve inner peace for a few minutes a day

While living every moment in bliss may be unrealistic given our lifestyle, we can all take a few minutes each day to find some inner peace. As you start to improve at the practice, increase the time you spend in that mindset. If you can even reach 5% of each day in a mindful, relaxed state, you are in a better mental place than 99% of the people around you.

Quiet your mind

Allocate time for yourself each day, preferably, when you first awake or before you go to sleep. Sit quietly and just become the observer of your mind and body. During this time, give yourself permission to stop solving things. Accept that there’s nothing you need to do during this period and just simply relax.

Become the observer

As thoughts enter your mind, simply notice them, and then let them go. Resist the need to label things or make any judgment. Give yourself permission to just be. Focus on your breath and become the observer of yourself.

Get out in nature

There’s nothing like the beauty of nature to bring you to a place of inner peace. When you’re there, take off the headphones, put your phone in your pocket on vibrate, and observe your surroundings. Listen to the sounds of the birds, watch the leaves blow in the wind, and be present in your surroundings.

Find your happy place

Is there a place in your home or yard that makes you happy or relaxes you? Can you find a way to spend time in that place each day? Sometimes it’s more effective to visualize a place from your past: a chair under your favorite tree in your childhood home, or the beachside hammock you laid in during your last vacation. Close your eyes and recreate that happy space in your mind.

Find your activity

Most of us have an activity that centers us. For me, it’s skiing and biking. When I am skiing down a mountain at 45 miles per hour, I experience a sense of exhilaration and inner peace. Some people get there from gardening, or fishing, and for others it is golf. Figure out what it is for you and do it as often as you can.

Inner peace in daily activities

Find ways to inject moments of inner peace throughout your day. When you’re sitting at a traffic light, get in the habit of taking a few deep breaths. Use the out breath to push out anything negative you feel. Use the in breath as a trigger to relax your mind and body. At mealtime, before you take your first bite, take a moment to be thankful for the food, then use that moment as a trigger to be present as you appreciate the flavors of the meal.

There are challenges to maintaining inner peace for the working professional. It’s very easy to allow daily life to take over. While it’s probably not realistic for most of us to stay in an inner peace mindset for long periods of time, with some discipline we can revisit that mental space multiple times per day.